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An Overview of 3D Printing Technologies for Soft Materials and Potential Opportunities for Lipid-based Drug Delivery Systems

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Abstract

Purpose

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a rapidly growing additive manufacturing process and it is predicted that the technology will transform the production of goods across numerous fields. In the pharmaceutical sector, 3DP has been used to develop complex dosage forms of different sizes and structures, dose variations, dose combinations and release characteristics, not possible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods. However, the technology has mainly been focused on polymer-based systems and currently, limited information is available about the potential opportunities for the 3DP of soft materials such as lipids.

Methods

This review paper emphasises the most commonly used 3DP technologies for soft materials such as inkjet printing, binder jetting, selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), fused deposition modeling (FDM) and semi-solid extrusion, with the current status of these technologies for soft materials in biological, food and pharmaceutical applications.

Result

The advantages of 3DP, particularly in the pharmaceutical field, are highlighted and an insight is provided about the current studies for lipid-based drug delivery systems evaluating the potential of 3DP to fabricate innovative products. Additionally, the challenges of the 3DP technologies associated with technical processing, regulatory and material issues of lipids are discussed in detail.

Conclusion

The future utility of 3DP for printing soft materials, particularly for lipid-based drug delivery systems, offers great advantages and the technology will potentially support patient compliance and drug effectiveness via a personalised medicine approach.

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Acknowledgments and Disclosures

This review was funded in part by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Projects scheme (grant DP160102906). Vincent Jannin is an employee of Gattefossé, France. The author would like to thank Gattefossé, France, for supporting the Ph.D. study of Kapilkumar Vithani.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University (Parkville Campus), Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia

    Kapilkumar Vithani & Ben J. Boyd

  2. FabRx Ltd., 3 Romney Road, Ashford, Kent, TN24 0RW, UK

    Alvaro Goyanes, Abdul W. Basit & Simon Gaisford

  3. Gattefossé SAS, 36 Chemin de Genas, 69804, Saint-Priest, France

    Vincent Jannin

  4. UCL School of Pharmacy, University College London, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AX, UK

    Abdul W. Basit & Simon Gaisford

  5. ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, Monash University (Parkville Campus), Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia

    Ben J. Boyd

Authors
  1. Kapilkumar Vithani
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  2. Alvaro Goyanes
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  3. Vincent Jannin
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  4. Abdul W. Basit
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  5. Simon Gaisford
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  6. Ben J. Boyd
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Correspondence to Ben J. Boyd.

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Guest Editor: Dennis Douroumis

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Vithani, K., Goyanes, A., Jannin, V. et al. An Overview of 3D Printing Technologies for Soft Materials and Potential Opportunities for Lipid-based Drug Delivery Systems. Pharm Res 36, 4 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-018-2531-1

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